


You Can't Outrun Your Past

by Mirror_Verse, orphan_account



Series: Mirror-Verse [48]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bullying, M/M, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-11 23:42:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/804599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirror_Verse/pseuds/Mirror_Verse, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Cas meet someone Dean knew from High School.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Can't Outrun Your Past

They were leaving Celestial Cafe at the end of Castiel’s shift when the guy came running up to them.

“Dean!” he was shouting, “Dean Winchester!”

Dean wasn’t going to stop: he was tired and cranky and not up for dealing with people, but Cas touched him on the arm and stopped him in his tracks.

“Someone is calling for you,” He said and Dean wasn’t able to resist those eyes, no matter how tired and cranky he was.They turned around to face a man that was slightly familiar in a vague, cloudy way, like Dean knew who he was in the recesses of his mind but was unable to access the memory.

The man slowed to a brisk walk, breathing hard as he said, “Dean. I didn’t know that you went to college here. It’s so strange that we can go through four years here and not notice one another.”

“I’m sorry,” Dean replied, “but who the ever-loving fuck are you?” Castiel’s response to that was to hit Dean on the arm. The stranger just smiled a little and said, “I’ve changed a lot, haven’t I?”

“Apparently,” Dean grumbled.

“I just, I saw you and I wanted to apologize,” He said, looking ashamed of himself, “You know, for all of the things I said and did to you in high school.”

And it came back to Dean suddenly, like a dam bursting, and he remembered who this was. His first response was the curl back into the sad child he’d been. His second was,  _oh no, not now Cas can’t know he can’t oh no oh fuck_ like a river of words running through his mind and he couldn’t dam them, couldn’t help them from flooding his mind with panic that he felt so strongly it weakened his knees.

Castiel cocked his head to the side, looking at Dean with that puppy dog expression. “Dean?” He said, “What is he talking about?”

“It’s nothing,” Dean said, brushing off the stranger.

“No,” the man said, catching Dean’s arm as he was turning around, “It’s not nothing. We tormented you for years. We did terrible things to you— _I_ did horrible things to you.”

Dean was looking at the ground, face red and tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. He didn’t want to think about it. He was happy now, he was happy and he didn’t want to remember it.

“I just saw you and I wanted to let you know that I feel so, so sorry for what I did. I’ve changed. I even finally came to terms with the fact that I’m bisexual.” Dean laughed, a forced, clipped sound, “I have a boyfriend now.” The man seemed to notice Castiel for the first time and turned to him.

Cas was looking at him with wide eyes as he held out his hand and said, “So sorry! I’m Gordon Walker.” Castiel took his hand and shook it stiffly, “Castiel.”

Gordon smiled and shook his hand vigorously, turning to Dean to say, “I’m glad you found someone who seems so wonderful.”

“Oh, we’re not—” Dean blurted out before looking over at Castiel and ending it softly, “…together.” Cas looked at the ground, and Dean avoided his eyes.

“Oh, I see then,” Gordon said, smiling a little awkwardly with the way the tone had changed. “I have class now, so…” He waved at them in goodbye and jogged off in the direction he had come from. Dean turned around on his heel and started walking back the way they had been headed before. 

“Dean!” Cas said, running up behind him and clasping a hand over his left shoulder. “Dean,” He said, softer now, as Dean shrugged the hand of his shoulder.

“What do you want, Cas?” His voice was soft, barely above a whisper. It was almost lost among the chatter of the  crowds, but Cas had that habit of standing just a little too close.

“You never said anything.” They stopped walking, standing in the middle of the path as people complained and shoved them until Dean took Castiel’s sleeve and led him just off the sidewalk and into the grass. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to. I didn’t want you to know, okay? No one really knows, not even Sam. I don’t want you to know that I wasn’t generally…accepted.”  He forced a laugh, almost choking on how thick it was in his throat, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away.

“I won’t tell anyone, Dean.” Castiel said with such gentleness that Dean had to look into his eyes and see the honesty in them. He placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder again, and it stayed this time as he nodded okay, looking to the side again. The tears that he had held back were streaming down his face, but Castiel ignored them. 

They walked home in comfortable silence and didn’t talk about it again for a long time to come.


End file.
